Chapter
3 – Forcing a Resolution
Polina and I have been hard at work
interrogating and putting down the cybernetic criminals that have been
attacking the city with our psychological powers. The information we found out revealed
to us what we feared, that a group of criminals would target the city while
they were distracted by the police drama. We also found out where the leaders
are residing. They plan to attack the city hall from the underground, and move
to stop them, and we do by catching them in the act, just as they’re starting
to plant explosives under the foundation. I manipulate them by getting into their
heads and forcing them to fight each other. While I’m in their heads, I see
their ambitions to take out most of the police force.
They planned to do major damage to
the city by taking out its police and possibly killing Polina and the
Compassionate along the way. They had hoped to blow up City Hall and send
another army of robots to attack us while they set up their base in the underground
city, but since we’ve stopped them here and have the location of the rest of
their friends, we’ll make sure all their plans are stopped here and now. With the
rest of the criminals dead or incapacitated, we take them into custody and send
a squad of superhumans to take care of the rest. During this whole thing,
Polina was upset with herself and the two police groups, and I didn’t need to read
her mind to tell that. She was rushing her interrogations, making people bleed
from their eyes and head, and causing people to die painful deaths from the
inside. Even after everything is done, I can still tell she is mad and helping
everyone she can to take her mind off her anger.
When the injured are taken care of,
and we’re able to sit down back at city hall, I’m about to say something to
Polina, but she says something to me first, that being, “You were right,
Penelope.”
“Huh?” I say.
“We should’ve used our powers to
calm things down. If we did, then these criminals wouldn’t have attacked us,
and all this death and tragedy wouldn’t have happened.”
“I thought you said it would’ve
made things worse?”
“At this point, I would’ve taken
any other problem than this.”
Polina and I suddenly get a call
from Raziel that Tanimura and Munakata are at it again, arguing about what just
happened and what could’ve been done to prevent it, with each side’s officers
backing their side up and arguing with the other.
“Stubborn bastards,” Polina spits
out. “We’ll be there soon.”
Polina and I get in a police car,
and she speeds us to the Dominion office, where the drama is happening. During
the drive, I see an anger in Polina’s eyes I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.
When we get to the scene, we see Raziel and Zahara trying to get the two groups
to back down from one another, but they don’t listen until Polina screams at
them to stop and uses her psychological powers on them.
“Go ahead and do it, Penelope. We’re
more than justified in using your powers on them now,” Polina commands.
I do as she says and use my
psychological powers on both police groups to force them to stop fighting. In
their minds, I see they’re beyond upset at one another and at themselves for
what has happened.
Polina scolds both groups by
saying, “This is beyond disgusting behavior from both of you. The bodies of the
dead are still on the streets, and you’re here arguing with one another. Tanimura,
I want you back patrolling the streets and giving your people a break, and you
should expect more from the people who write your checks and arm you. Munakata,
I want you to stop this useless protesting. I’m getting what you people need,
and causing all this drama to try to make things go faster is what left us open
to being attacked today. I expect you to do as I say, or I’ll make sure you get
thrown in the same jail as the criminals we faced today. Do you all understand
me?”
A majority of them agree with the
rest, too scared to speak. There’s no arguing that Polina is right to do what
she did in this situation, but still, even I’m a bit frightened by this turn in
her personality. The police officers apologize to one another and Polina and
promise not to cause any more unnecessary trouble for the city before leaving
the scene to help clean up the mess the city is in. Later in the day, the news
reports about what happened, and includes what Polina did to the police, which
has become national news. Most people in the public say she did the right thing,
some say she should’ve done it sooner, and others say she shouldn’t have done
it at all.
The next day comes, and we all get
back together at city hall, where it’s ominously quiet and not much is
happening. Raziel comes up to Zahara and me and says we should comfort Polina,
who still seems to be upset. We both agree and enter Polina’s office.
Polina quickly lifts her head from
the desk as if pretending not to be lying down, and says, “Yes? Is something
wrong?”
“Nothing is. That’s why you need to
take a break,” Zahara says.
“I can’t take a break. There’s
still so much to do after what happened.”
“They’ll always be more work to do,
but there’s a time and place to do it in,” Raziel says. “If God wants us to get
it done, it’ll be done, and right now, you need to rest after all that’s
happened.”
“Polina, please,” I say. “We’re
worried about you. What happened yesterday was unlike anything I’ve ever seen
from you.”
Polina sighs and turns her chair to
look out the window.
“Okay…okay. I guess you’re all
right. I have been letting all this work get to me.”
That was easier than I thought it’d
be. Still, when we take Polina out for lunch and to walk through the city,
stopping at parks and shops, she looks like her mind is back at work, something
that all of us see.
When we stop at a restaurant for
dinner, I say, “You haven’t stopped thinking about work, have you?”
“Yeah. It’s still bothering me,”
Polina says.
“Then you need to take another day
off since your mind is still at work,” Zahara says.
“No, I’m fine. Being with you all has
given my mind some needed rest, and I’ve come to some conclusions on things. I
need to be more active, taking situations into my own hands so that what
happened doesn’t happen again. I was too soft on those officers before, and
look where it got us, and I do need to take more breaks. I get so focused on
work that I miss the forest for the trees. I tire out my mind, and it makes me
make stupid mistakes. I also neglect the people closest to me because of it, so
I’m sorry to have worried you and ignored your advice.”
“It’s okay. We just want to make
sure you’re not pushing yourself too hard,” I say.
“It’s only going to be okay if she
treats us to drinks with that mayoral salary of hers,” Zahara jokes.
“Polina, we’re the Compassionate,
the merciful arm of the Dominion in Meridian, a team that makes the city a
better place to live in, and we all have each other’s backs, so if you need
anything, we’re here for you. I’m here for you,” Raziel says.
Polina smiles and thanks us. We have a nice rest of the night. Even so, I sense the same thing Polina does, the looming presence of future challenges that will test us in ways we’ll find uncomfortable or impossible to overcome. It feels like my life has been nothing more than challenge after challenge ever since the government experimented on me to give me my powers, but after meeting Polina and seeing everything she’s done, I’m confident that we’ll make it through whatever comes our way next, even if it doesn’t end well, just like the situation we’ve gone through. I’m sure that, in the end, everything will be okay.
The End
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